Cabinet okays amendments to Banking Companies Bill
New Delhi: The cabinet on Thursday approved amendments to the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) and Financial Institutions Laws (Amendment) Bill 2005. The amended Bill will provide more flexibility to the board of directors and also improve corporate governance in banks. It will also bring the operations of nationalised banks in line with the changed scenario and modern business practices.

The Cabinet also approved enactment of a new Law on Payment and Settlement Systems Bill, 2006, which seeks to provide for an explicit legal basis for payment and settlement system and their regulation apart from empowering the Reserve Bank of India for such regulation of payment systems. It also seeks to provide a legal basis for all net settlements and to define settlement finality.

The legislation will also provide for a legal basis to recognise clearing houses, legal sanction to netting of payments with receipts, finality of settlement, recognition of service providers and participants, electronic mode of payments and explicit powers of supervision over Securities Clearing and Settlement.
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RBI to auction 15-yr, Rs.5,000-cr paper
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the auction of new fifteen year government stocks worth Rs5,000 crore. The auction will be held on Tuesday, May 23, 2006, according to a release from the bank.

The sale of government stock would be conducted by way of yield based auction using uniform price method said RBI.

Up to 5% of the notified amount of sale of stocks will be allotted to eligible individuals and institution as per the schemes for non-competitive bidding facility in the auction of government securities for both the auctions, mentioned the release.

G-Secs: The 10.25% G-Sec, maturing 2021, closed the trading session at Rs121.76 with an effective yield of 7.77 %. Moreover the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rose to 7.62% , its highest since June 2002 and well above Wednesday's 7.59 %.

Reverse repo: In the reverse repo auction RBI mopped up an excess of Rs60,000 crore from the market.
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Centurion Bank net for 2005-06 at Rs.26.04 crore
Mumbai: The Centurion Bank of Punjab has posted a net profit of Rs26.04 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2006. Net profit for the year ended March 31, 2006 was Rs87.8 crore, while profit for 2004-05 stood at Rs25.11 crore.

Total income in 2005-06 was Rs1,052.06 crore against Rs418.29 crore for the previous financial year, the bank said in statement after its directors took the results on board today.

Results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2006 include operations of the erstwhile Bank of Punjab Ltd (BoP), which was merged with Centurion Bank from April 1, 2005.

The figures for 2004-05 are for are only for Centurion bank. Hence, the results for 2005-06 are not comparable with those for 2004-05.

Deposits at the end of March 2006 stood at Rs9,399.6 crore against Rs3,531 crore as on March 31, 2005. The bank's net non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to 1.13 per cent at end of 2005-06 from 2.49 per cent a year ago.

The capital adequacy ratio was 12.52 per cent at the end of March 2006 against 21.42 per cent a year ago.
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Indian Bank targets 20 pc growth in 06-07
Coimbatore: Public Sector Indian Bank is targeting a 20 per cent hike in its business and a 25 per cent increase in its credit line during the current fiscal.

With 509 branches at present covered under core banking solutions (CBS), the remaining 900 branches would be brought under CBS by this financial year, with an outlay of Rs70 crore, officials said.

As far as ATMs were concerned, the bank has plans to install the facility in all the branches, which have so far been computerised, for which Rs 27 crore would be earmarked. The bank currently has 388 ATMs.
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LIC and UTI Bank launch pre-paid annuity card
Mumbai: LIC and the UTI bank have launched a pre-paid annuity card for disbursement of pension or annuity to customers of the corporation.

The card, currently for pensioners in Mumbai, would be a debit card with validity of 10 years. It would be loaded with the annuity payment whenever it is due. At present, LIC has 4 lakh customers under its group pension scheme and 9 lakh, under individual pension policies.

The new card is an international one and can be used at all VISA-enabled and UTI Bank ATMs. It can also be used at VISA-enabled merchant outlets across India and abroad. Customers do not require accounts with UTI Bank to avail the card. The card would be functional as any other debit card with purchasing capability up to the balance available in the account. The bank's centralised database would enable customers to access their accounts.

There would be "zero lost card liability" in case of loss, theft or unauthorised usage of card.
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PNB 2005-06 net up - declares 30 pc dividend
New Delhi: Punjab National Bank (PNB) plans to raise fresh capital (tier-II) of about Rs1,000 crore before June to fund expected growth in business in the current fiscal, chairman and managing director of the bank, S.C.Gupta, has said.

PNB has reported a net profit of Rs1,439.31 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2006, which reflects a 2.07 per cent growth compared to the net profit of Rs1,410.12 crore recorded in the previous year.

Total income of the bank increased to Rs10,815 crore from Rs10,136 in the previous year. Operating profit of the bank touched Rs2,874.78 crore (Rs2,404.46 crore).

The board of directors has recommended a final dividend of 30 per cent, taking the overall dividend for the financial year to 60 per cent.

For financial year 2004-05, the bank had paid a dividend of 60 per cent.
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Lakshmi Vilas Bank net up 500 pc to Rs.22.47-cr
Coimbatore: The board of directors of Karur-based Lakshmi Vilas Bank has recommended a dividend of 25 per cent for the 2005-06 fiscal.

The bank's net profit has soared by over 570 per cent in the just ended fiscal, from Rs3.34 crore to Rs22.47 crore.

The bank has reduced its NPA (non performing asset) significantly to Rs55.59 crore, from a level of Rs115.05 crore in the corresponding period of 2004-05.

The net NPA has been brought down to 1.89 per cent (4.98 per cent). The bank is targeting to bring it down to less than one per cent this year.
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Central Bank pays Rs.50-cr dividend
New Delhi: The Central Bank of India has paid a dividend of Rs50 crore to the Central Government for the financial year 2005-06.

Ms H.A. Daruwalla, chairperson and managing director of the bank, presented the dividend cheque to the Union finance minister, P. Chidambaram, here today.

The bank had achieved a total business of Rs1,05,678 crore as on March 31,2006 and has recorded a net profit of Rs257 crore for the financial year 2005-06.
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Indian Bank launches `Bharat Card'
Coimbatore: The Indian Bank has introduced the `Bharat Card', aimed at people with a monthly gross income of Rs3,000-7,500.

According to bank officials, permanent employees in Government, public sector, private corporates, and self-employed people are eligible to apply for this card. Like every other credit card, it can be swiped at the bank's ATMs or Visa-enabled ATMs for withdrawing cash. The cash withdrawal would be limited to 25 per cent of the credit limit, subject to a maximum of Rs5,000. Such withdrawals would attract a monthly interest of 1.99 per cent (compounded daily).

The bank also offers free insurance to Bharat Card holders.
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